You just can’t mess with time: This gives our hero a new hurdle to overcome, and me a few more gray hairs. (The nerves that come with earnestly wishing your characters well when you actually care about them can age you prematurely, I swear.) Another twist sends our scales of fortune tipping one way, then the other, and my heart seesaws right along with them.

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EPISODE 13 RECAP

Joseon. Yoon-wol asks Boong-do if he really means to leave this world for good, to be with that woman. After all his struggles, his life in this world is finally making a turn for the better—how could he leave everything and everyone behind now?

She says that she gave him the talisman to help him, not so that he would give everything up for a woman. She adds that if the talisman were used to fulfill other desires, it would grow angry. Oh, so you tell him this NOW?

Boong-do is startled at both her knowledge of his intent and the vehemence of her reaction, but suggests they work through this calmly, item by item. First, what’s this about angry talisman?

In Seoul, Hee-jin gets everything ready for Boong-do: clothes, necessities, and of course, cell phone. She programs the phones and calls from one to the other, pretending to be “Player-nim” answering a call from “Most Beautiful Woman Ever-nim,” haha.

Soo-kyung watches, clucking disapprovingly. Hee-jin teases her, saying she should have no problem with it since Soo-kyung was always a fan of rich boyfriends. Well, now she’s got one. Soo-kyung complains, saying that Hee-jin has caused a scandal, created a rift with Dong-min, and lost CF offers: “Are you happy now?!”

Hee-jin just says in her chipper way, “Yes, I’m happy! Yay!”

At his desk in the palace, Boong-do thinks back to Yoon-wol’s clarification about the conditions of the talisman.

Flashback to before she’d gotten it. Yoon-wol prays at the temple, day after day, so fervently that the head monk asks what she’s praying for. He’s moved by her earnest spirit and wants to help.

She tells the head monk that she prays for Boong-do’s happiness, which makes him cluck in pity. He can read endless difficulty in Boong-do’s future, with threats to his life. In response, he writes the talisman, explaining that it can carry both fortune and misfortune. He tells her that it does not necessarily follow that what will happen will follow his intention (as the writer), or hers (as the requester), or Boong-do’s (as the possessor). If used with other intentions, great misfortune may arise.

Boong-do recalls Yoon-wol’s explanation of the head monk’s warning, and how the talisman was created wishing for his safety. If he uses it to live in the future, won’t he be acting counter to that original intention? With tears in her eyes, she had told him, “I have never once not wished for your happiness. But I never once thought that such happiness would mean disappearing from us forever.”

As he contemplates the matter, a messenger arrives from the Euigeumbu bearing a letter. It thanks Boong-do for his tip about Ja-soo, whom they are seeking to arrest. However, his aid is requested, because there was trouble in the night, which he tells Boong-do unofficially.

A strange, unidentified man had been seen lurking about Queen In-hyun’s home at night, and had been chased off by a guard. Thankflully nobody had been hurt, but the affront had sent King Sukjong into a rage (not that he needs much help; if ever there was a capricious king…). Sukjong had ordered the criminal caught.

Boong-do is the only one who has seen the bandit leader’s face, hence this request. He confirms that the Wanted sign bearing Ja-soo’s face is more or less accurate, but misses some things. He murmurs to himself, “It would be so easy with a photo…”

But Ja-soo doesn’t seem to be the guy responsible for the latest trespassing incident — that guy was taller and wore a yangban’s hanbok.

Just then, an ambush. A team of bandits pops up on a nearby rooftop, readying their bows and arrows to shoot — all aiming for Boong-do, a sitting duck in the open courtyard. Damn, that’s ballsy — here in daylight in the center of the city?

And then they shoot him. Twice. Oh holy fuck. A commercial break, NOW?

I don’t even have the presence of mind to process that the talisman isn’t working until a third arrow comes at him, and Boong-do vanishes. So perhaps the other two weren’t life-threatening arrows, though they sure look like they hurt.

It’s chaos as people run for cover, officers run to capture the bandits, and bystanders clamor that Boong-do just disappeared, like smoke.

Boong-do reappears in modern Seoul with arrows sticking out of his shoulder and back. People stop to marvel at how good-looking and cool he is, assuming he’s shooting some kind of movie.

He leaves the public square and finds a quieter corner, needing to pull the arrows out. He snaps the shafts off, which looks terribly painful, but he has the presence of mind to change into new (stolen) clothing. Boong-do’s sweating, ashen, and literally dripping blood onto the pavement as he walks, all the while mentally summin up what just happened — that such a blatant act in broad daylight can only mean it’s a trap. It must be Ja-soo, who knows about the talisman and its properties. That means Minister Min is the mastermind.

Flashback to Minister Min, scheming from his prison cell. Ja-soo wants to storm Boong-do’s house to take the talisman by force, but Minister Min has craftier plots up his sleeve: If the talisman brought him all this fortune, then it can also ruin him.

But there’s the hitch about the new criminal not being Ja-soo. And dressed like a nobleman. Boong-do makes a realization…

Minister Min is going to use his disappearances against him to trap him and turn his supporters against him.

Boong-do keeps his pain contained enough that he isn’t attracting strange stares, even though there are growing red stains and strange bumps under the shirt from the arrow shafts.

He staggers to his hiding place in the park, and is initially alarmed when hidden supplies are missing. But then he spots the plastic bag left by Hee-jin (or rather, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World), and finds the supplies she’s prepared: shoes, wallet, cell phone.

He manages to hail a taxi and tells the driver to go to the closest library. Dude. Arrow wounds! Bleeding!

The driver doesn’t notice until he gets stuck in traffic and turns to ask Boong-do a question, by which point he’s unconcious.

On the drama set, Hee-jin acts out a scene with the king, but today her delivery is a little off; she’s stillted and forced. We see why when the camera pans over to reveal her scene partner: not Dong-min, but a random stand-in wearing king’s robes. Looks like Dong-min the Petty was true to his word and has refused to act with Hee-jin, forcing this bit of ridiculousness. Hee-jin isn’t fully into the emotion of the scene and the director calls for a break, frustrated. Na-jung basks in a bout of schadenfreude, loving it.

Hee-jin perks up to see Soo-kyung approaching, and playfully sticks her tongue out at her. Soo-kyung crankily mimes taking that tongue and cutting it off with scissors, which makes me giggle, ’cause it’s such a best friend thing to do. All, I love you, but you drive me nuts and I want to kill you right now.

Hee-jin turns on her phone and sees a screen full of calls from Player, happy to know he’s back. She calls him right away, only to get a strange voice on the end of the line, telling her about something in a taxi.

Hee-jin bursts into the hospital demanding to know where the taxi patient is. She’s recognized by the nurse, so Soo-kyung steps in (literally, by stepping on Hee-jin’s foot as a signal to shut up) to cover for her, to prevent potential rumors linking Hee-jin to man.

While they wait for Boong-do to come out of surgery, the women get an accounting from the taxi driver. Or rather, Soo-kyung talks to the driver while Hee-jin listens in from across the room, worried sick. The driver explains how he saw Boong-do passed out and called the only number programmed into the cell, then hilariously pauses as he gives Soo-kyung the once-over, asking, “And you’re… the world’s greatest beauty?” Haha.

Minister Min cackles to hear that the entire city is in an uproar over Boong-do’s disappearance. Thanks to the ambush, Boong-do has been seen disappearing in front of a number of credible witnesses, just in time to coincide with the mysterious be-hanbok-ed intruder sighting. So devious, and so smart. In an evil way, of course.

Furthermore, the other bandits also disappeared. We know their disappearance wasn’t the same type as Boong-do’s, but this is the power of wild rumor at play.

The king listens to this in disbelief, drawing the natural conclusion. Then Boong-do and the bandits are using some sort of trickery? And where in the world has he gone?

When Boong-do wakes up after his surgery, with an anxious Hee-jin at his bedside, the first thing he does is to muster his energy to tell her to confirm something. It sounds like he says the Annals, but it’s barely whispered and she doesn’t pick up on it, instead sitting outside in a miserable state until Soo-kyung tells her they ought to leave. Not only is she already in a scandal for dumping Dong-min, supposedly after cheating on him, it’ll be worse if gossip circulates that the Other Man turned up at a hospital injured and bloody.

Soo-kyung adds that just because she previously said that rich boyfriends are the bee’s knees, merely being rich doesn’t automatically make somebody acceptable. After all, what student goes around getting shot by arrows? Soo-kyung pulls out a plastic bag containing the extracted arrowheads to show Hee-jin — the sight of which makes a lot more to Hee-jin.

Hee-jin returns to the set and receives a revised script, but flips through it in growing confusion. The new story pisses her off, and she storms off to confront Dong-min for being a petty bastard, forcing a rewrite just because he’s angry with her. These are real people in history, you know! You can’t just go around changing things willy-nilly!

Dong-min looks at her in confusion, wondering if she’s drunk, saying that all that’s happened is that Queen In-hyun dies a little earlier. Hee-jin fires back that it’s not that, but the method of death. And then it falls into place, as she recalls Boong-do’s request to check the records. Something must have changed again.

Hee-jin goes online to read about Queen In-hyun’s life, and what she finds shocks her. Uh-oh.

Hospital. Boong-do awakens in bed, gasping in pain. Hee-jin arrives at the door, excited to hear that he’s awake now, and the lovers trade relieved looks. That restores their good humor, and she chirps that she sure was prescient in getting him a cell phone right away, since that’s what alerted her to his condition.

He’s been out for ten whole days, and Boong-do is reminded of his initial goal: He needs to check the Annals. She says that she checked them for her… but that things are pretty much the same. The only thing that changed was that it recorded his attack and disappearance, “and he was not seen after that day.” She keeps her expression unconcerned and blank that we’d be tempted to believe her, if only we hadn’t seen her own reaction to the news.

She says that she figured that explains him staying here from now on, and confirms that nothing else was any different. She teases that if he thought he was so important that his simple absence would change history, he’s got an inflated sense of self.

Boong-do doesn’t look convinced, but he doesn’t get a chance to ask about it. The doctor comes to check on his wound, and Hee-jin steps outside to take a call. She’s told by a nurse that since Boong-do is now awake, they’ll have to alert the police (since injuries like stabbings and violent crimes have to be reported).

While Hee-jin is taking care of that, Boong-do painfully gets up and removes the IV drip from his arm, heading to the closet to reclaim his talisman… which isn’t in any of his pockets. OH NOES. He changes quickly and leaves the room, only to get stopped by Soo-kyung and the nurses. They try to tell him he can’t leave, so he blocks their path with a rolling table, then hurries out.

When Hee-jin returns to the hospital room, she finds Soo-kyung huffing about how suspicious Boong-do is — why would he run away?

Boong-do heads to the library and reads about his attack and disappearance (which took place on May 25). The next day, the king decided that the trespasser to the queen’s property must have been Boong-do and ordered punishment. The day after that, a witness presented himself to confirm that Boong-do often visited the queen in the middle of the night.

Over the ensuing days (during which Boong-do had lain unconscious), stretching into early June, more “evidence” popped up to incriminate him, such as the timeline of his Jeju escape. The gossip increased among the people, and along with it the discontent over Boong-do’s association with the queen. The king demanded an explanation from his queen, but she did not explain.

On June 20, the increasingly furious king declared him guilty of capital crimes, and ordered a reinvestigation of all the events of April… which then led to Minister Min’s release. Urg!

Finally, on July 2, the king had fumed that with no sign of Boong-do, he had no choice but to punish the queen without Boong-do for threatning the royal line. On the 25th, she was beheaded.

Oh, crap. Who knew that Boong-do’s fear of being in love with the queen — played so well as a comedic runner in a previous episode — would turn so dire? Well done, show.

Hee-jin fidgets anxiously as she calls him, guessing that he headed for the library. But she doesn’t know which library, and he isn’t answering his calls.

Boong-do recalls Yoon-wol’s warning about the side effects of using the talisman for other reasons. He finally calls her back to ask her where she hid the talisman.

He’s at her house, looking through drawers, but she says that she burned it — he must know by now that Queen In-hyun was beheaded, and returning to his time will just cost him his own head. She says she’s sorry, but he knows how simple-minded she is, and that’s the only thing she could think to do, so it’s too bad but he’s just stuck here.

Boong-do just says, “You’re terrible at lying, yet you keep doing it.” She protests that she isn’t lying, but he replies, “Do not anger yourself at my next words. I do not much care for dumb people. You call yourself dumb, but as I see it, you merely lack information, you’re not dumb.” He reminds her that when the talisman was torn, he lost his memory — what would happen if she really burned it? Would they be fine? “Or would we go forever not being able to recognize each other?”

She knows all this, so he supposes she has hidden it away carefully. In flashback, we see Hee-jin trying to light it on fire, but unable to go through with it. Hee-jin insists that she is indeed just as dumb as she says, just as Boong-do opens the freezer and spies a bit of telltale yellow. He tells her he found it, and she jumps up to exclaim, “Don’t go, wait!” She starts to cry as she begs him not to go, accusing him of being cruel to the person who saved his life. He promised to take responsibility for her.

He asks, “Will you heed my words for a moment? I told you I would take responsibility for you, but five years ago, I decided to devote my life to protecting the queen. Not only could I not protect her, but to have her go down in history and punished because of me — I could not live the rest of my life happily here, knowing that. I have learned I should not live like that. Therefore, I will take responsibility for everything. I can do it. I will solve everything and return.”

That night, Hee-jin returns home and sees all of Boong-do’s modern accoutrements neatly stacked on the table — clothing, wallet, phone.

COMMENTS

So many time-travel stories deal with the idea of time resisting change, or having adverse effects to that change, but I have to credit this show with handling this ever-changing butterfly effect in a believable way. I don’t mean realistic, of course, given the physical impossibilities of time travel (or IS it?), but that the fallout is painted in a well-thought-out, credible way. I love that the drama’s motif of cause and effect is painted with a thoughtful, nuanced touch. Cause and effect, push and pull, yin and yang. You can’t gain something without losing another thing.

There is an invisible Higher Power at play here, but it’s not Fate, or at least the same kind of Fate that exists in most other K-dramas. You know, the kind that tells you something Must Be, and therefore does everything to bring about that conclusion, regardless of how the characters feel. Or, often, in direct contradiction to how the characters feel. (Fate’s a sadistic bitch, what can you say?)

This drama’s supernatural entity has no value judgment attached, and for that I am vastly grateful. That is to say, Fate seems weirdly fixated with principles of purity and morality. Which isn’t to say I’m pro-impurity and immorality, but that just tends to get preachy and judgy. We all have a general sense of what’s just and unjust, or right and wrong, so having Fate hammer that in gets tiresome. Here, it’s almost a scientific matter of action and reaction: Something was meant to do one thing, and will react when used improperly. It’s just framed in a vaguely paranormal/spiritual context. It’s interesting, and different.

I was (and am) pretty worried about the effects of the talisman (or as I like to think of it, Talisman’s Revenge), in that it makes so much sense for there to be repercussions — this isn’t the kind of drama that doesn’t tie up its loose ends. There’s such a wide range of possibility for what those repercussions might be that I feel that kind of dread that comes with knowing something’s coming, but not knowing what to expect. It could be anything, and that’s an ominous thing.

Yet Boong-do’s one word of confidence at the end, assuring Hee-jin that he can keep both his promises, is enough to give me a sense of relief. I have no idea how he intends to go about doing both things — or how he can remain in the future without, say, pissing off the Powers That Be into killing him off — but if we’re talking about Boong-do with his super smarts and thoughtful planning, I’m suddenly feeling a lot more reassured.

I was: “Damn fool!!! You’re bleeding!!! What hell the cab man is doing??!! Don’t he see Boong-do bleeding??!! What he has eye for?” and than “Please show, you’re driving me crazy!!! No, you can’t! You can’t make to return Boong-do there! You can’t!! He will die! What hell!!”

Yes, I’m crazy, but this show is killing me! I love it and I hate it… okay, I can’t hate it, but I’m so frustrated!I’m really don’t know what happens at the end and I’m so scary about it!

I love Yun WOL, i shed a tear for her loyalty, devotion and love to Bong Do. Why can’t they be together. Is it because of her status as a slave and Gisaeng that’s why she can’t marry a nobleman. If that’s the case in the olden times, i dont wanna live there, thank G i’m in the modern time where equality reigns. Bong-DO , stay here with us, it’s more fun in the 21st century u know.
Bring Yun-Wol, we can partner her with Dong-Min!

me too! he died in my eyes too (no! erased that, I killed him!) i mean physical violence is a NO NO for me (though just threw a towel at Hee-jin) but still! it’s not like Hee-jin slap or him or something…

Like Saa said, he did offer to marry her, but she turned it down because it would be a loveless marriage–it would have been in name only, and that would have been a disservice to her own feelings. Boong Do’s love life is so interesting. He’s a widower, he’s got Yoon Wol (his wife’s former servant) pining after him, and he’s got Hee Jin in love with him. (An all us fans.)

When Boong Do says “I can do it.” You really believe him. Everything about his character just says, “yes, you can trust this man.”

I loved the build up to the actual slander incident. It was slowly, almost playfully built up over the course of the last few episodes. And then BAM they hit us with it. It’s the one thing BD just HAS to go back to solve.

I like how the slander incident was almost a throwaway joke in the last previous episodes (compared to all the big things that were happening) and then suddenly it makes a reappearance as a main issue to be reckoned with. Never say that the QIHM crew wasted and wanted.

You really can’t take ANYTHING at surface value in this show, can you? Around episode 10 I realised that the small part of me not utterly absorbed in what’s on the screen is saying at intervals, ”–wait. That’s not going to come back and bite someone in the ass, right? Huh? Show? Shit.’
I love it.

I don’t know, I just can’t see how he’s gonna be able to pull all of this off. He knows the future, which is what initially got him into this mess. I feel like he’s overconfident, like what he’ll have to end up doing is resigning himself to a life he doesn’t want. He’s already accomplished so much. …I hope I’ll have to eat my words, though!

I love KBD, but don’t you think that if he’d just done something about his own life and not done anything else to change history, things would have turned out the way he wanted, to begin with. It was when he started meddling with history that worse things started to happen. I think it was a bit arrogant of him.
*runs and hides*(don’t kill me. It’s just a thought. I’m playing devil’s advocate.I love the show)
I know that he had good intentions(and that we would not have had a show had he left it alone) but the reality is that even after all he has done, the Queen still dies by poison? in the original story, was he planning to change that part of history too?. Honestly, I’m just wondering. I know he claimed he only tried to move the events that were going to happen ahead of time, but he should have known even that was going to bring consequences. Hm… I’ve had these thoughts and have to think them through.

But wasn’t the other queen, the one that was a servant before, the one that died by poison in the initial course of events? I think one of us misunderstood something. Otherwise why would he be so happy? That would be a bit messed up…

Queen Inhyun did not die by poison in the original and history. She died of illness, jang heebin was the one sentences to death by poisoning.

Very interesting observation though but after some thought it would be like this: boongdo was supposed to die for te original events to unfold, and in the first history which he read, he didn’t have the talisman and that’s why he died. But once he got the talisman, the whole thing started to change because he lived past what he was supposed to. Because he lives, regardless of knowing history or having the talisman, he would have still done his utmost to restore the queen and fight against min am and that alone would’ve changed history even if he didn’t succeed. Boobg do is boongdo and as jb mentioned it isn’t fate that controls te situations, it’s the characters consistency that brings about similiar situations. Boongdo had been fighting this cause for 5 years, by living he just continued it so I don’t think it’s arrogant at all because the talisman was just another weapon he used to fight much like a sword. For things truly to be left alone, he would’ve had to die in jeju and even if he transported to the future after that and didn’t come back to let history play out, it still would change history- the very fact that he is alive means he must do all he can to help the queen because that’s who he was. If you call him arrogant then we have to call him arrogant for even wanting and trying to get the queen back on the throne when he could’ve just accepted that she was exiled and moved on or waited. But that’s not boongdo and it’ll never be

I like that he is smart. Not in the smarty-pants way, but observant and methodical. He thinks things through. He works out the logic of the situation.

Surprisingly, this has left me thinking a lot of The Lion, the Witch and the Warddrobe. When Peter and Susan are in confusion thinking that Lucy has been lying to them about traveling to Narnia their uncle helps them reason through to the likelihood she is telling the truth.

That is what give me hope that he may be able to pull off keeping both of his promises. He is not reacting to the moment but thinking working through steps ahead. But so is Minister Min, and the talisman seems like a wild card . . .

OMG. a recap. christmas comes early.
JB, thank you. I just finished watching this one.
I might had cried a bit at the last scene *sob* so sad. but I understand him wanting to go back and save the queen. because that just who he is. and the way he assured Heejin that he will come back, makes me happy though I shudder thinking what will he do to come back to her.

can I say the bad guy really bad and smart? not the typical bad guys who fall short at every turn but smartly used the information at their advantage.

This show just keeps getting better and better. After the bliss of episodes 11 and 12, I am agreeable to focusing now more on the time travel / history plotline. This theme tied around the talisman, is indeed very interesting, I didn’t say sweet, just stimulating, not romantic, but intelligent. The writer(s?) have given us such a good balance between two equally stimulating plotlines – love and time.

jb saw you tweeted “most stressful recap ever” was wondering if it was for QIM or BIG?

only 3 eps left, lets spread it out between you, heads and gf hehe!

i still think sookyung super unsupportive, like she did not ONCE comfort heejin while she was super desperate and worried about boongdo. would it seriously kill you to hug her for not even that STOP your pricklyness for 2 seconds?! i dont know about other ppl but all anger and annoyness disappears when you see your loved one in pain but nope, sookyungs STILL in manager mode. i for one would deff not want sookyung as my friend but i can see why heejin and sookyung are, cuz heejins just so plucky and has a thick skin so lets everything sookyung say roll off her back. but that STILL does not excuse you being a craddy friend yo- you know shes happy but youre still only worried about the business side of things- youre her manager, if she doesnt mind then neither should you garh. if heejin was desperate to maintain her image and fame and have boongdo at the same time then id get sookyungs frustration but its obvious that sookyung cares more for heejins career (which affects her directly) than heejins happiness if its at the expense of her paycheck or job.

last scene when she switched to banmal was so raw and real, swearing at him and raging at him- see this is the kind of care i want for sookyung and heejin, the selfless concern you have for your loved one that causes you to lash out. and heejins always been a forthright person and theyre the same age, it always struck me as a bit strange that she still used jondaemal with him. i dont get that with korean couples in general, youre kissing and hugging and having sexy times but you cant talk informally? weird.

i also love the last part of the convo because hes so gentle with her, theyre both so full of respect and love for eachother. not like dongmin where everything is just him him him, not listening to heejin, doing whatever he wants with her, bulldozing over her words, yelling. but boongdo always ask for permission with her and its lovely to see.

I agree with you on the Soo Kyung bit. Before she was mildly annoying, but now I am fullblown ready to slap some sense into her. What annoys me the most is something that her character does through out the show. When Hee Jin does something that Soo Kyung considers foolish, Soo Kyung never ever rolls with it. She starts screaming and ranting. And while this may be funny in the beginning, it really does get annoying. As the manager, you are supposed to be the cool-headed one who, yunno, manages stuff… This became painfully clear to me when Soo Kyung pulled the I quit card in front of Hee Jin. It’s not like you never knew Hee Jin was impulsive before. You clearly knew what you were getting into, seeing as you’ve known Soo Kyung for ages. Forget manager mode or human mode, just get to good person mode.

I had always said that just once, I want to have a female character, doesn’t matter if she’s lead or not, who accepts what’s dealt to her and rolls with it. I find it super annoying that the females are always ditzy and fun or super-cold and super-intelligent, but never.. normally intelligent? (Especially while the guys tend to be uber-hot, uber-loaded, uber-cold specimens). Either they have the intellect of a gnat or Einstein, but it’s never someone who’s watched enough supernatural shows and movies to simply work through whatever situation they’re thrust into. That’s why I adore Hee Jin. She says she’s stupid, but that’s actually just a facade, and something she can blame when she does something impulsive. As Boong Do said, “You call yourself dumb, but as I see it, you merely lack information, you’re not dumb.”

I LOVED when Boong Do said that. My absolute favorite part. She (and everyone around her) has been saying that she’s dumb since the very beginning and I never believed her, ’cause she has a pattern of doing whatever she wants and then saying she’s ~stupid~ so that she can get away with it. And it isn’t even that she’s ignorant or “lacks information,” it’s that she doesn’t know what she doesn’t want to know. When she needs information, she looks for it and gets it and uses it to her advantage, just like Boong Do (like when she found out about the Queen being beheaded and she kept that information from him). Lover so much.

I love that part too. Boong Do just knows her so well. It’s too sweet. I love it that Hee Jin’s this open, carefree person, doesn’t let things bog her down, and that she uses the “I’m dumb” card when she deems necessary. For eg. in ep 9 and 10 she tells everyone she knows Boong Do’s a dream, just to get them off her back. And she’s obviously not dumb else no one here will like her. Fandoms are harsh on stupid characters, hahah. This is one show in which I love both male and female leads equally.

sookyung does not respect heejin at all and neither does dongmin. i agree heejin should totally fire sookyung and let her get on with being a REAL friend instead of being an ineffective screechy manager, and get a REAL manager, one that is not so emotionally invested in heejin and will do what heejin wants. heejin thinks shes dumb because everyone around her treats her like she is, a wayward child and thats why i love boongdo because he knows its all fake and he sees her worth which is so wonderful, they both complete eachother they do.

ive never been this passionate about a character as minorish as sookyung before but i think its a shame they turned her into a screaming, screechy character when in the first timeline she was poised to be the perfect foil for heejins implusive ways while still being a goodfriend- but in the second timeline shes turned out like this and i cant help feel disappointed because i love the actress and she has so much range, they couldve done so much with her as heejins girl sidekick. for a drama that doesnt resort to many kdrama cliches im sad that im gna have to sweep sookyung into a category of useless flighty meddling comedic relief bestfriends ala fullhouse etc.

what im surprised is that noone is getting more upset over sookyungs meddling and unsupportive ways and keep on insisting that she is just looking out for heejin. ppl, that boat sailed right after she lied a billion times, and let heejin, her bestfriend think she was still crazy after making an empty promise to help. even though heejin called her out on not being on her side like sookyung promised, she STILL has no intention os helping heejin out. bad bad friend. thankgod heejin has boongdo or id be serz worried.

I agree with you on most of what you said, and I think a lot of us were disappointed and annoyed and freaking out over Soo Kyung’s meddling. But since Hee Jin and Boong Do found each other at the end of that very same episode, I think we were more fixated on the cute, the pretty and the intrigue rather than bash our heads over stupid best friends.

I have said it once and I will say it again: Soo Kyung is walking down the same path that Head Secretary Eun did, and look what happened then =__=;;

yeah, i think the writers have made a tiny little error here. Either they intend to make Sookyung be always cold — not hugging her friend– or they made an error by always focusing on her confusion in the whole situation. Or, they will show her warming up to the nature of the paranormal. At this moment, she is just so wrapped up in being Ms Career Fix-it that I am willing to think she’s perplexed (but not cruel.) She has time to redeem herself..if the writers are aware of how she is coming across to viewers.

at first i thought it was an error too but it makes sense, her actions. in this timeline, heejin has become a big star and subsequently sookyung has become happy and complacent in her role as the big stars manager and immersed herself in it completely forgetting heejins real interest, which isnt the glitz or glamour. in the first time she was heading there but was still a friend, albeit shrewd because the stakes werent as high.

its a shame though that the writers chose to go that way, even though its realistic but honestly, they still couldve kept her pricklyness and offish character while still being supportive and on heejins side. watching her flail about trying to cover up boongdos supernaturalness to help heejin woulda been so funny and awesome. so much wasted potential.

whats more heejin has told her the truth and even though she gets evidence after evidence that the story is true she refuses to believe it. we call those ppl narrow minded, and she still doesnt respect heejin or trust her enough to believe her. i honestly would hate having a friend like her, always yelling and being condescending. shame ppl treat heejin like that all the time which is why shes used to it and doesnt mind.

i dont think theres any redemption left to be honest. she goes into the amusing/annoyingly caddish characters with dongmin.

To be honest, I don’t get why Ja Soo keeps on following the minister without any sure gains. Is it because of personal grudge? Did he previously acquire great wealth from the minister or something?

That aside, I was seriously screaming when Boong Do got shot. In broad daylight. With all these people looking. Ugh. I knew when I saw the preview how evil the plot they will be scheming, but dang, did that made my blood boil! It’s very fortunate that Boong Do is very smart and strategic. If he had been any other character in a similar drama, I would think he will need nothing short of a miracle to survive.

To be honest, even if they show Ja Soo’s backstory and why he’s a rabid follower of Min Am, I will just skip past it (Ok, I won’t, because there’ll probably be some important clues in there or something, but I’ll *want* to).

I had seen the previews, so I wasn’t so shocked at the shooting (they can’t kill the main character until the last episode at least) but what annoyed me massively was when he warped, got into the taxi, and then… WENT TO THE FREAKING LIBRARY!!!1!

For the first time ever, I was actually furious at Boong Do, literally screaming “Priorities, you bleeding twit, PRIORITIES!!” at the screen. And the way I see it, it was a bit out of character for him as well, since he normally is so very logical… I sort of understand why they did it, to show us the importance of what just took place and how important it was to the future, but still… a bit weird.

I don’t think he knew about ambulances or emergency healthcare, plus it’s not like he has an identity. He was surprised about where he was when he woke up. He’s been to a hospital before but I don’t think he knew that was a hospital or what it was for. But then again, I have a pretty bad memory…

I watched this episode late last night and whimpered through the whole thing. It’s definitely the most intense episode yet, and I find myself incredibly grateful for last week’s episodes, which were so full of fun and kisses.

I have faith in the drama, and I have faith in Boong-do. I have faith that we will get a happy ending. That said, I’m still worried because I can’t see HOW we’ll get that happy ending. What does it mean when I have faith in a drama but still worry about it? It means this drama is the top. Move outta the way, SUFBB, I have a new favorite!

Thanks for the recap! I really felt everything you did the same way!!!!

This:Who knew that Boong-do’s fear of being in love with the queen — played so well as a comedic runner in a previous episode — would turn so dire? Well done, show.

Not only did they use that idea well, but don’t forget what caused his fear in the first place was one of the most romantic kisses (to date) ever.
I feel like these writers are “using every part of the buffalo” with this show. NOTHING is wasted. Everything means something. IT IS Effing brilliant. and wonderfully romantic at the same time.

And that song from Crescendo? Lovely! I actually bought the album.

I really don’t think I can take any more of this BD/JHW coming at me from all senses and all directions and right at my brain and heart and gonads, but with only a couple weeks left, I will do my damnedest to absorb every spec of him/it.

I finished BoaRM, and am still stunned that it is the same actor, and the same one as Mr. Idol. What an amazing transformation he has made. This is the role of his lifetime…I can’t imagine anyone else doing it.

Same here. I watched him in Mr. Idol and as much of A Thousand Kisses as I could stand (about 20 eps, then massive fast-forwarding through my most hated drama to date) and I felt that there were occasional flashes of more-than competent acting, but for the most part he slept-walked through both roles with a certain morose determination. After ATK, I actually thought that he must be a fairly stupid person, because he kept playing these stupid people and doing it with an annoying thoroughness.

He was really cute, and very over the top in Invincible Lee Pyung Kang. His character goes through a lot of changes, plus, he plays more than one role. You see flashes of cute BD – espcially in how they dress his character, re beanies.

I would actually recommend that for a light fluffy romcom, with, btw, the WORST dressed male second lead in the history of Kdrama. Trust me on this.

It’s such a breath of fresh air to have a drama with an intelligent writer at the helm. Time changes and repercussions thereof are one of my favorite subjects, especially when they’re handled as well as QIHM.
It makes me wonder if JJ Abrams & Josh W. and Lindlehoff are sneaking into the writer’s lounge and leaving post-its with time travel tips just to help out. (LOST, as crazy as it was, was still meticulous in its time-traveling existence).

I said to a friend that she has to watch this. This drama have the power to make a lonely person lonelier because how will we ever found someone like Boong-do? Smart, handsome, cheeky and fight with sword?

Anyway, I can’t believe that I would say a drama about time-travel is so realistic. The antagonist has the right reason to be so evil and execute his plans in a very smart way. It makes me so worry about our hero, then as he assures Hee-jin, he only reminds us that he has proven himself to be smart and execute his plan carefully. Hopefully.

So glad to see this recap! Thank you! I’ve been waiting anxiously for recaps of this drama.

I can’t wait for this week’s episodes! I can’t remember ever going into the remaining two episodes not being able to predict how the drama is going to play out. So many possibilities. This is such a well written drama. The PD is also doing an amazing job! Bravo.

I just watched this eps yesterday! I hope 14 is subbed tonight in time to read your recap tomorrow 😀

I believe the archers manage to hurt Boong-do because they caught him by surprise. At any other time, he knows he’s going to get stabbed, shot etc and accepted it. But this time, he is shot before he’s aware of it.

But wow, Boong Do sure knew his priority, library first! I’ve been wondering why he didn’t ask anyone to call ambulance. And yeah, he’s that dedicated to his purpose that he chose to go to library rather than get a treatment first ><'

I actually thought it was more an autopilot sort of thing. His response to chaos and conflict is to gather information and sift through it logically and deliberately, so I felt that he had just gone into Boong-Do Scholar Mode as a coping mechanism. After all, with the sweating/grayness it appeared he had gone into shock, and people in shock do not think clearly.

Oh wow, another recap already! Thanks JB. 😀 I think I’m going to wait until the Episode 14 recap comes out before I say anything about this part of the plot, ’cause otherwise I don’t think I can restrain myself enough to avoid spoiling it for other people. 😛 All I can say is – how much do I love that Boong-do is so responsible and righteous? And omg, how is that Ji Hyun-woo can walk along the streets in bloodstained clothes, wincing in pain and dripping with blood and sweat, and still look so freaking hot. =.=”

thank you so much for another insightful recap. i love reading your recaps as much as i love watching the show.

this episode tugged at me in every direction in the right ways. and i’ve never before felt so uneasy and fearful for the characters as i did with this drama.
“The nerves that come with earnestly wishing your characters well when you actually care about them can age you prematurely, I swear.”
i second you on that. my heart see-sawed along and i now have an additional handfuls of grey hair.

i love your analysis in the comments section. just goes to prove how thoughtful and awesome this drama is.

Shoot. I am feeling all sorts of things about where this is headed and I can’t express them in a words right now. So all I ask is that we wrap things up nicely in a happy manner please. I think the repercussions might just be that Boong-do doesn’t get to go back to Joseon. So he gains a new home and loses an old one. That seems tame, but whatever dude. Just give me a happy ending please. *wish wish wish clicks heels three times and knocks on wood* Gorrammit!

Technically, isn’t he dead? The talisman says you have to die to live, right? So as they keep trying to kill him in Joseon, I would think that he would die there as he was never supposed to live in the first place. Ok, no ESK’ing this ending!

This episode really shows how much of a genius the villain is. Knowing how the talisman works, he purposely shot the first two arroes in spots that wouldn’t be life-threatening and then aimed at the heart knowing he would disappear.

Yeah, I love that Boong Do’s enemy is someone who is as strategic as he is. I also love the correlation between the King and Dong Min (both jerks) and how the King is someone with all this power, but he’s essentially being used as a pawn by Min-am and others. He really doesn’t have a mind of his own, does he?

I really love this episode!! *and yeah..ji yun woo looked so attractive in his wounded state..dunno why*. And I have watched epi 14! I just wanna say that I love Yeon Wol. Maybe I’m the only one who likes Boong Do-Yeon Wol pairing more than Boong Do-Hee Jin *I still like Heejin, really*.

Anyway..I love this drama. I love that the minister is so cunning and Boong Do doesn’t have to win everytime. I found that the plot is so realistic. A smart Boong Do is given a talisman like that will surely use it for his advantage, then he has to pay the consequences. A nice plot.

thanks for another great recap! i hope for the final episode all 3 of you (Heads, JB and GF) would add in your comments… your insights are always amazing and makes me appreciate the drama more…

one thing i really love in this drama is that the actions of every character is realistic… you can understand why they would act or react the way they did… and HJ and BD love relationship looks so comfortable, no over-the-top drama, and their feelings progressed so naturally even in their unnatural circumstances…

Thank you for these fast recaps! I didn’t expect to see this episode’s recap after ep 11 & 12’s…Thanks for taking the extra time to do this!!! 😀

Everytime Boong Do assures Hee Jin that everything will be fine(like in this episode when he tells her he will be back) I can’t help but feel very assured…Boong Do just has that kind of calmness and confidence that can make anyone trust in him. (Definitely husband material!!! Hehe…) I wonder what will happen in the last few episodes. I hope that this drama wouldn’t disappoint with its ending! (:

he sings so well!!!! aw I want him for christmas!! I’ll do whatever it takes to get Ji Hyun-woo for christmas! He’s perfect! He can sing, he’s good looking, and he’s tall exactly what a tall (5′ 11 3/4″)girl needs! ~daydreams~

Ha, we are about the same height and another crazy Ji Hyun-woo fan-girl here. Love it that he is tall with broad shoulders and that we both love Coldplay. I’m not quite sold with his singing yet but I love the fact that he can sing in English.

Just wanna add something : I think Yeon Wol’s love for Boong Do is as pure as Heejin’s. She is just not as bold as Heejin bcoz she lives in a traditional world. Girls are supposed to be reserved at that time. But at critical times like this *regarding the talisman’s curse*, she finally confronts Boong Do and reminds him. Once more, for his sake. Everything she does and wants are for Boong Do’s sake. Yeah,Heejin also have done lots of things for him.

How lucky Boong Do is to have 2 beautiful women who loves him that much.. Sadly, he can only choose one. Can I wish that he choose Yeon Wol? *although I think it will never happen*

Its ep 13, and so far the story still holds strong! I. LOVE. IT. SO. MUCH!! One day day to ep15, and two more to the end… *sad* I decided I will watch Becoming a Billionaire after QIM to ease my Boong Do withdrawal HAHA!Thank you so much javabeans! Without your first recap of this, I wouldn’t even have started watching, because the title at that time was so…. even now, when I tried to gush to my colleagues to watch it, the title is just soo…hard to get out LOL they almost always go… waad? hahahaha

This was a deep episode. A part of me thinks Boong Do should have warped back right then and there even while bleeding. At least the guards wouldn’t be suspicious and King Sukjong couldn’t accuse him of using black magic. If Joseon was able to nurse Boong Do back to health when he was wounded in Episode 08, then I reckon they can heal him from two arrows. Which coincidentally he was comatose for ten days after both injuries… Yoon Wol pleading with Boong Do not to leave kind of broke my heart.

To kelinci biru, as a strategic and analytical person, I think Boong Do first reaction will be : what will people in Joseon think after seeing me vanished like that?? An analytical person will have doubt on what should he do next..so going to the library is the ‘safest’ option for him. Just my 2 cents..bcoz I’ve been wondering the same thing. Because I am, myself, an analytical person, than I will not dare to go back straightly to Joseon becoz I’m scared of people’s reaction towards me.

Boong Do cannot fall in love to Yoon Wol in a romantic sense, though he cares and like her and in another occasion that feeling might be enough to make he contently lives with her, but that’s without passion of love.
And I love Heejin.. I haven’t seen many heroine in K drama that portrayed realistically as her. She is sweet, impulsive, and childish but not in annoying way. She looks weak, but not wishy-washy, and can be dependable and calm in her own way. I like the moment when she tells Dong Min to let her go quietly, she is brave and not hesitate.
And though she really loves Boong Do, but she doesn’t cling to him or being a pathetic tear jerker every so often when he leaves her.
I wish I can see more heroine like this…

Holy Hangyang– the unicorns have turned into rhinoceri! Seeing shish-kebab Boong Do made my heart ache (but I agree– he did look especially attractive with his hair like that). Incarcerated Min. Min is turning into a worthy adversary in this game of human chess, which makes me love Show even more. I was a bit disappointed, however, in Hee Jin’s lack of honest communication with Boong Do in this ep. I’m not criticizing Hee Jin per se– I realize that she was doing what she felt was necessary to protect her man and their relationship. But I wish the writer would have had Hee Jin admit the truth after an emotional meltdown, or found some other way to demonstrate that Hee Jin “gets” who Boong Do is. It’s just something that didn’t sit well with me, but I would be remiss if I didn’t also say that I’m in awe of what a superbly-crafted script this is.

I had the same problem with Hee-jin too; I didn’t think she should have lied about what was in the Annals. But, on thinking about it again, it could be that while he’s previously explained his cause to her (restoring the Queen etc), she didn’t quite ‘get’ the importance, and she was truly being protective (I concede! on another website I commented that I thought she was being too selfish without considering what it meant to him).

I think that Boong-do’s explanation right at the end might have done the trick, although I’m waiting for some part in some episode where they have an honest talk about these matters.

Agree, it was definitely selfish of her but was she doing it to protect his life or her love? That’s a question we cannot fully answer but at the end when she was crying, it seemed like she was protecting him so he was her number one concern, like Yoon Wol.

Agree. Really don’t like that she’s had this deceptive streak with him all along, manipulating his ignorance – true, he’s smart enough to see through it, but I don’t like that she keeps lying to him. Agree that it seems like she doesn’t really ‘get’ him – like pretending to burn the talisman, haha, not. Like thinking the Queen’s life is less important than her happiness. I like that BD explained his commitment to each of them so sincerely.

I felt the same thing. Heejins a bit naive in that her happiness is the only thing that’s truly important or that’s she’s a but short sighted in trying to achieve it which is why that’s the only part of where I understand why sookyung gets so frustrated.

I was really frustrated this ep when heejin lied, I deff don’t think she should of, because it shows that she doesn’t understand boobgdos plight at all. Reading about stuff and actually living it is completely different and she knows boongdo well enough to know its important to him but selfishly she wants him to live for her and only for her. Like how she assumed that he’d be in love with modern times just cuz he can live longer and there are technological advancements which allow you to live comfortably. but to her credit, boong do has not told her anything in detail, he only kind of sketches in general terms and since he’s so calm its not like him to overreact and so even if he explained it I still don’t think heejin would understand the magnitude in which he has suffered for 5 years. I still do think he should tell her without mincing words like he did at te end of this ep and further more I can forgive heejin because she eventually accepted it after hearing his explanation, though he really didn’t have a choice either way hmmm.

actually i wondered if boong-do had really taken the arrows or not (before that commercial break ended and we saw he was really truly bleeding). i vaguely wondered whether he might have procured a bulletproof (and thus, also arrowproof) vest of sorts in modern joseon times. that might have been handy yes? at any rate, his costume looked so well padded that it had me wondering at the time…

Whoa, ladies, 3 recaps in a week? You’re going so fast you’ll get flung into the next dimension and turn up in the next episodes of QIHM!

Er, I mean, thank you for the recaps! I’m loving this show and the writer’s ability to make everything ‘hang’ together. As you’ve pointed out, the ‘ever-changing butterfly effect’ is handled in a credible way, and with such lovely nuances of plot and character.

I love this episode in particular because it reminds us of who Boong-do is, and of what drives him – responsibility. He promised to protect the Queen, and he’ll do it, come hell or high water. He promised to take responsibility for Hee-jin, and he’s going to find a way to do that too. I’m glad he explained his need to go back to Hee-jin, because I’m not sure if she really knows, yet, just how much all this means to him. In the end, although she rails at him, I think she’s grasped that, if he didn’t right what went wrong, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself, and may not even be the same Boong-do she loves.